1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to coreless rolled wipers and, more particularly, to individually packaged coreless rolled wiper dispenser systems.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Numerous coreless rolled wiper products are known in the prior art. Generally, such prior art coreless rolled wiper products may be described as being either large roll diameter products or small roll diameter products. Small diameter rolls have an outside diameter in the range of from about 4 inches to about 6 inches, and large diameter rolls have an outside diameter of from about 8 inches to about 12 inches. Small diameter coreless rolls typically have an initial inside diameter of about 1.5 inches, while large diameter coreless rolls typically have an initial inside diameter of about 3.0 inches.
There are a variety of compressed rolled sanitary paper products known in the prior art. Most of the references teaching such products are directed, primarily, to methods in/or apparatus for compressing the rolls. Generally speaking, such rolls are reshaped in a generally round configuration by the end user. Examples of such references include U.S. Pat. No. 4,886,167 to Dearwester, U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,388 to Watanabe, U.S. Pat. No. 4,762,061 to Watanabe, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,027,582 to Dearwester, U.S. Pat. No. 5,186,099 to Qing, et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,195,300 to Kovacs, et al.
U.K. Patent Application No. GB2244472A teaches a tissue dispenser for coreless rolls of tissue wherein the roll may be unidirectionally compressed within the dispenser. The tissue is dispensed in its compressed configuration.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 325,410 to Hicks and 1,819,895 to Hunt each teach flattened rolls of toilet tissue wherein the paper is removed from the outside of the roll when the roll is in its flattened condition.
Although some of the above cited prior art teaches a space saving feature, that space saving feature is directed to the shipping and storage of the products. That advantage, therefore, is no longer present for the end user during actual dispensing. Further, the centerflow rolled wipers generally have a roping problem associated therewith at least during the initial stages of dispensing when the diameter of the hole in the center of the roll is relatively small. Roping occurs when the sheet twists as it is being extracted from the center of the roll which can cause premature tearing of the perforations and dispensing failure. In addition, the twisting or roping of the wiper during dispensing may interfere with the tearing of individual sheets along the lines of perforation. The roping or twisting problem has been eliminated with larger diameter rolls by creating a correspondingly larger initial inside diameter. Of course, the larger inside diameter results in a larger outside diameter as well which means that the final product will occupy more space than it would have if the center hole was maintained at its smaller diameter. The present invention obviates the roping or twisting problem while simultaneously yielding a package which displaces less volume than a conventional centerflow roll of equal total length having the smaller diameter initial center hole.